Personal Lines Auto Insurance Carriers Shocked By Commercial Use Losses, Turn To DRN’s Picture Proof To Find Commercial Use At Underwriting And…

Insurance Weekly News

Personal Lines Auto Insurance Carriers Shocked By Commercial Use Losses, Turn To DRN's Picture Proof To Find Commercial Use At Underwriting And Renewals

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Weekly News -- - In response to the industry's issues in the personal lines auto market, DRN's Picture Proof provides a quick, substantial and positive impact on the combined ratios of a carrier's auto book. Picture Proof provides pictures of vehicles that prove commercial use of a personal vehicle, and is the only product that provides that proof so that carriers can take action at underwriting and renewals, enabling them to potentially save millions of dollars in premium leakage and avoid future losses at claims. Picture Proof provides empirical information and does not require any IT integration to set up and run.

With the launch of Picture Proof HYPERLINK "http://go.drndata.com/find-commercial-use" nDRN guarantees to find at least 4% commercial use of at-risk vehicles for qualified carriers. In DRN tests for commercial use, one large national carrier had 28,565 personal line vehicles at-risk of commercial use. Of those vehicles, six percent or 1,714 showed signs of commercial use. If you assume an average of $1,000 in annual premium leakage per policy, this carrier had a total premium leakage of $1.7 million.

"Carriers typically catch commercial use of a personal vehicle at claims. By waiting until claims, they have already lost money including dollars lost to premium leakage. Picture Proof gives carriers the images they need to spot the telltale signs of commercial use," said Alex Young, vice president of risk at DRN. "Carriers are often shocked by how much they are losing to commercial use on their books. In fact, we have seen up to 40% commercial use of at-risk vehicles, so chances are every carrier has more commercial use on their books than they realize or can even identify. Carriers that fail to evaluate their book for commercial use are leaving money on the table and are killing their reserves."

Most carriers have these at-risk vehicles in their personal lines book: Econolines, Sprinter Vans, Astro Vans, Chevy Express Vans, and large pickups 350/3500 or higher. Picture Proof uses vehicle sightings that DRN gathers nationwide to provide pictures that carriers can use to spot commercial use of a personal vehicle. DRN has over five billion nationwide vehicle sightings and gathers more than 150 million more every month. Those sightings, include the signs that point to commercial use such as ladder racks, commercial business signage, lifts, and tools boxes. Carriers can easily upload their book of at risk policies and DRN will return images flagged for commercial use.